In the manufacturing of circuit board assemblies, the placement of the circuit components is automated in that a component is fed from a tube feeder holding the components. A component feeder removes the components from a tube, one at a time, and moves them to a pick station where the component is moved by a picker device to the circuit board on which the component is to be mounted. Only one type of component can be handled by the component feeder at a time. To feed a different type of component, another type or size of tube feeder must be used.